Physical Activity and Physical Education
Resources for Schools

Websites
Related MCH Library Resources

Websites

• Action for Healthy Kids. Program information and resources to help support positive changes in nutrition and physical activity in schools. Action for Healthy Kids partners with schools and families in every state to improve child and adolescent health and readiness to learn through better nutrition and physical activity. Resources include
  
  Wellness Policy Tool. An online tool that outlines a series of steps for developing, implementing, and evaluating a wellness policy that meets a local school district's unique goals for nutrition and physical activity.
  
  
• Alliance for a Healthier Generation: Healthy Schools Program. Tools, tips, and resources to implement this program aimed at preventing childhood obesity by encouraging healthy snacks and school meals and physical activity and education among students, teachers, and staff in schools. The alliance is a joint effort of the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation.
  
  
• American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD): Let's Move in School. Program information and tools to promote this initiative aimed at helping students become more physically educated and active in school.
  
  
• American Heart Association (AHA): For the Educator. Program information, lesson plans, and physical education activities and games to teach students about the importance of nutrition and physical activity to good health. School-based programs include Jump Rope for Heart, Hoops for Heart, NFL Play 60 Challenge, Heartsaver CPR in Schools, and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation.
  
  
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Healthy Youth! Physical Activity. Data, science-based strategies, policy guidance, and information about national, state, and local programs to improve physical activity and physical education in schools. Resources and initiatives include
  
  Association Between School-Based Physical Activity, Including Physical Education, and Academic Performance. (2010). [Literature review].
  
  KidsWalk-to-School. Information and materials for this community-based program that aims to increase opportunities for daily physical activity by encouraging children to walk to and from school in groups accompanied by adults.
  
  School Health Guidelines to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity. (2011).
  
  School Health Index. A self-assessment and planning guide that schools can use to improve their health and safety policies and programs including those relevant to physical education and activity.
  
  Also see CDC’s tobacco free sports initiatives for materials to encourage an active and tobacco-free lifestyle.
  
  
• Department of Education (ED): Carol M. White Physical Education Program (PEP). Information about this grant program for local educational agencies and community-based organizations to initiate, expand, or improve physical education programs, including after-school programs, for children and adolescents.
  
  
• Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) Database. Information about journal articles, research reports, teaching guides, curricula, conference papers, and books covering all aspects of education-related issues. Search the database to identify many items about physical activity. Use the ERIC Thesaurus to inform your search by scanning the terms under the category Physical Education and Recreation. ERIC is sponsored by the Department of Education (ED).
  
  
• Gateway to 21st Century Skills. Information about and links to educational resources from federal, state, university, non-profit, and commercial websites. To identify resources on the topic, enter "physical education" OR "physical activity" OR recess in the Search for field. Click on Full Text and select Keywords. Click on Find Resources. The Gateway is sponsored by the National Education Association.
  
  
• Let's Move! Tools to help make schools healthier places to learn by providing quality nutrition, integrating physical activity during the day, and teaching children about the importance of embracing a healthy, active lifestyle. Let's Move! is a national initiative to address the challenge of child and adolescent obesity.
  
  
• Media-Smart Youth (MSY): Eat, Think, and Be Active! A curriculum designed for after-school programs to help young adolescents (ages 11 to 13) become aware of how media may influence their nutrition and physical activity choices. MSY was developed by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).
  
  
• National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE): State School Health Policy Database. A collection of state laws and policies in key areas of school health. Click on View by Topic. Scan the categories in the left sidebar and choose a topic (e.g., Physical Education, Requirements for Physical Educators, Requirements for Athletic Coaches, Physical Activity Other Than Physical Education, Organized Sports, Playground/Facility Safety).
  
  
• PE Central. Lesson and assessment ideas and instructional resources to help children and adolescents become more physically active. PE Central was developed by faculty and doctoral students in Virginia Tech’s Health and Physical Education Program.
  
  
• President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports (PCPFS): The President's Challenge. Fitness guides, forms, tracking software, promotion materials, and other tools for implementing this initiative to motivate students, including students with disabilities, to increase their physical activity and improve their fitness.
  
  
• Safe Routes to School (SRTS) National Partnership. Program materials, research highlights, and advocacy tools to promote the practice of safe bicycling and walking to and from schools to increase physical activity, reduce traffic congestion, improve air quality, and enhance neighborhood safety. The SRTS National Partnership is a network of more than 400 organizations, government agencies, schools, and professionals.
  

Related MCH Library Resources

• Physical Activity and Children and Adolescents knowledge path (Includes sections about child care and early childhood education, community design, and special health care needs), family resource brief
• Community Services Locator: An Online Directory for Finding Community Services for Children and Families knowledge path
• Nutrition in Children and Adolescents knowledge path, family resource brief, school resource brief
• Overweight and Obesity in Children and Adolescents knowledge path, family resource brief, school resource brief
• School Health resource brief

Physical Activity and Physical Education: School Resource Brief. (June 2011). (Updated: January 2013).
Author: Susan Brune Lorenzo, M.L.S., MCH Library.
Reviewer: Olivia K. Pickett, M.A., M.L.S., MCH Library.
Editor: Ruth Barzel, M.A., MCH Library.